Synn

Introduction

Back in November I purchased a Digital Photo Frame to display some of the many family and holiday pictures my wife and I had taken over the years. At the time of its purchase I also noticed that a miniature Digital Photo Frame attached to a key ring was on offer and at just £5.00 I decided to take a chance on it not really expecting all that much from it to be honest. I thought the idea was good in principle as it would allow us to carry some photographs around with us and be conveniently stored along with our car keys but I was naturally suspicious that its low price was an indicator of a poor quality display and limited features.

How it Looks

On its arrival the Synn DKR-15 Digital Photo Key ring (to give it its full model name and hereby referred to as the DKR-15 for the rest of this review) lived up to my initial fears as it was poorly packaged in an annoyingly impossible-to-get-into plastic blister pack. A single piece of folded paper with incredibly small typing acted as the instruction manual which didn’t inspire great hope in me and a very short data cable was included. The device itself has a visible 1.5 inch display screen which is surrounded by a silver metallic finish, it is housed in black plastic and has a short silver metal chain attached it with a key ring on the end. On the underside of the frame are 3 small buttons marked ‘Down’ ‘Menu’ and ‘Up’ and there is a tiny reset switch. Quality and finish wise I have to say that the DKR-15 is very disappointing, it looks cheap, feels lightweight and plasticy and doesn’t look durable at all; however what saves this from being a one star rated item for me is just how easy it is to transfer photographs onto it and how clear they are actually displayed.

Transferring Photographs

Unlike other mains-run Digital photo frames the DKR-15 has a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery installed within the device which is charged via the USB cable when connected to your computer. There are no slots for memory cards or sticks on this as you have to transfer images from your PC directly onto the device itself and its internal memory will allow for up to 120 pictures to be stored and displayed. Once the data cable is plugged in and attached to your computer the preinstalled photograph studio software opens up onscreen and prompts you to select the photographs or images you have saved on your PC that you would like transferring.

The software is easy to follow I have to admit and it’s really just a case of selecting, dragging and dropping images across into the DKR-15’s memory. If you are anyway computer literate and have experience of similar software used for iPods and mobile phones then you will know instinctively what to do with this but there are some considerations that you have to take into account when selecting what images you would like to transfer as you are limited by the small display screen. The device supports JPG, BMP and GIF images and I haven’t had any problems in transferring both photographs which have been saved on my computer’s hard drive and a couple of images I downloaded from the internet.

When you decide on a photograph from your collection and want to add it to the DKR-15 you are prompted to select an area of the picture you want on display. A shaded rectangular box appears on your photograph and you simply place this over the part of the image you want transferring so do bear in mind that massive landscape pictures won’t be able to be displayed effectively and neither will large group shots. Single and couple shots are probably the best types of photographs to add to this so if you have children and want to show your pictures off to friends and family then this would definitely do the job, on the other hand if you are a keen amateur photographer and take scenic shots of pretty landscapes then you will struggle in displaying them on the DKR-15. Be very selective would be my advice and choose the pictures which can be best displayed as even though the price for what this retails for is very cheap and the build quality is very poor I have to say that the backlit screens display is surprisingly clear.

The Display and Features

For a visible 1.5 inch screen the colour saturation is quite impressive; blacks are deep in shade and bright colours such as red and yellow are oftentimes clear and vibrant. There is a slight pixilation when observing the pictures close up and some pictures do appear to have a ‘washed out’ look to them but this I put down to the quality of the photographs that were taken in the first place. This never was going to provide the highest clarity of definition though and to expect anything other than a pretty decent image display would be unreasonable given the fact that this was only a fiver. If you are expecting pristine clarity with extra fine detailing then you will be disappointed with this so my advice would be to avoid if you have high expectations. If, on the other hand you want something portable that doesn’t cost that much and gives you access to dozens of your favourite holiday and family snaps then this could be well worth taking a chance on.

There are various options when it comes to displaying the images and the menu function allows you to set them to scroll as a slideshow with varying amounts of time between the image refresh. You can also set a timer rather than having the device permanently on which is a handy function and a battery preserver, the menu options are fiddly though as the controlling up and down buttons are very small and even more annoyingly it is awkward to use the buttons and see the screen at the same time. To be fair though once you have customised the settings to your own requirements you shouldn’t need to keep returning to the menu screen unless you want to change any of your settings.

On the whole then the DKR-15 does do a very good job in displaying the images held in its memory and whilst it really isn’t comparable to the larger, more expensive digital photo frames that are available to buy (my Elonex frame from a previous review for example) it is undeniably a handy little gadget to own and use. Photographs are a nice reminder of memories past and by having a few of them to hand in digital form means that you have access to them whenever you want and whilst I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this as a gift to someone I am pleased that I purchased one for myself.

The DKR-15 Two Months On

I did buy this with the intention of attaching it to my car keys, however in practical everyday use I found its durability to be questionable especially as I ran the risk of scratching the screen. Even though this is promoted and sold as a key ring I personally wouldn’t recommend its use in this way and my wife now carries this around attached to an internal pocket in her handbag. It has taken a fair few knocks in its time with us but is still going strong however the main problem we have with it is remembering to charge the battery as it is prone to run down quite quickly even when it is not in use or switched on.

Overall this is something that I can’t get overly excited about to be honest and the novelty of owning it soon wore off. It did come in handy over the Christmas period when we met up with some friends who we hadn’t seen for a few months, we were able to chat about and show them the photos that we had and for that purpose it was useful. For the most part though it does just sit in my wife’s handbag only ever seeing the light of day when we remember it is there and for the occasional charge every now and again.

I’m still not impressed with the build quality of the DKR-15 and consider it to be cheap looking, I would imagine that over time it will become battered and will end up being one of those impulse purchases that ends up being thrown away. I can’t see this withstanding the rigours of excessive use and even though it does do a good job in displaying the images it holds it is let down by the too-small buttons and plastic feel. In its favour though it is cheap and if it only lasts 6 to 12 months then it will have well worth the price I paid, whether you decide that it is for you will obviously come down to personal choice.

My own 3 star rating seems fair given my experience of it, it just goes to show how quickly technology moves on given the fact that only 18 months ago Digital Photo Frames were being sold for upwards of £100.00, this from Synn cost a twentieth of what they were originally retailing for and had more care been taken its appearance and production then this could well have been a five star product.

As far as recommending this goes I do but only with caution, it’s a cheap throwaway item and if you don’t set your expectations too high then you won’t be overly disappointed. I bought mine from play.com where it is still available for the price I paid so is easy to track down if you are interested in buying this for yourself.

Thanks for reading my review, please note that this may also appear on dooyoo under my username. Please also be aware that I made the suggestion to ciao to add it to their database, why it is listed simply as “Synn” is unknown to me.

Technical Details at a Glance:

1.5" colour screen
Supports JPG, BMP & GIF formats
Slideshow function
Multi-language on-screen display
Clock & calendar functions
Capacity 120 images (approx.)
Lithium ion rechargeable battery
USB cable (included) for easy charging and image transfer
Requires a computer running Microsoft Windows operating system (XP and above)